“British manufacturers are pulling back sharply on investment plans due to mounting uncertainty over Brexit and growing fears of a global trade war,” with only a third of firms planning to “to increase their investment in plant and machinery – a record low.”

SwanLeap has become “the fastest-growing private company in America.” Based in Madison, Wisconsin, the company “uses an artificial intelligence platform and custom software to help huge manufacturers, retailers, and other clients save money on shipping, and better manage their supply chains.” In 2013, SwanLeap’s first year revenues totaled $110,000. In 2017, the firm took in “just shy of $100 million, good for a nosebleed-inducing three-year growth rate of 75,660.8 percent.” In 2018, it’s aiming for $500 million.

To “counter U.S. protectionism, the EU and China are drawing closer together.” While the EU remains at odds with China on certain trade issues, Trump’s tariffs have helped to paint China in a better light globally. “China has increasingly used the mounting trade spats to portray itself as a protector of the rules-based international order, while chastising the U.S. for disrupting global commerce…. China’s engagement with the EU is driven by its desire to keep open world markets that its manufacturers need to thrive.”

“The batteries that power our modern world—from phones to drones to electric cars—will soon experience something not heard of in years: Their capacity to store electricity will jump by double-digit percentages, according to researchers, developers and manufacturers.”

“Mitsubishi Materials has admitted its subsidiaries falsified data about products used in crucial parts of aircraft and cars, dragging another of Japan’s largest manufacturers into the data falsification scandal at Kobe Steel…. The disclosure will raise the pressure on Japan’s manufacturing sector, which has been struck in the past two months by certification scandals at carmakers Nissan and Subaru, as well as Kobe Steel, Japan’s third-largest steelmaker.”

“Kobe Steel Ltd. unleashed an industrial scandal that reverberated across Asia’s second-largest economy after saying it falsified data related to strength and durability of some aluminum and copper products used in aircraft, cars and maybe even a space rocket.” Following on the heels of the Takata scandal and Nissan Motor’s unauthorized vehicle inspections, “Kobe Steel’s admission raises fresh concern about the integrity of Japanese manufacturers.”

“Corporate America almost uniformly craves tax reform. But businesses are deeply split over whether to support the…20 percent tax on imports coming into the U.S….. Major U.S. manufacturers like Boeing and Caterpillar are behind the idea. But retailers like Target and Ikea, as well as other companies that import most of their goods, are lobbying furiously against it.”

Stung by the strong yen, over 100 TOPIX-listed manufacturers have issued profit warnings. Conventional cost cutting is no longer doing the trick. “After decades of building plants overseas and trying to make production leaner and more efficient to address the currency vulnerability, analysts say Japanese companies are facing a sobering reality: the urgency to sell underperforming businesses and join hands with rivals to survive brutal market conditions.”

“Major Japanese manufacturers lined up Wednesday to give their employees bigger pay raises starting in April.” This could provide a boost to Abenomics, but “the diverging fortunes of Japan’s big and small firms suggest that Mr. Abe may have more work to make wage growth spread.”

“Japan has too many banks in the same way as it has too many manufacturers of televisions, fridges and microwave ovens. Yet while chronic oversupply has been one of the main forces depressing prices for consumer electronics over the past couple of decades, the influence of the merger-wary banks has been–arguably–more malign.” It would benefit everyone if the reluctant banks were to “find a partner, and get on with it.”